Retail Sales Drop Worse-Than-Expected 1.1% In July As Rising Covid Fears Hit Consumers

• Shoppers in the U.S. cut back their purchases in July even more than expected as worries over the delta variant of Covid-19 dampened activity and government stimulus dried up.
• Retail sales for the month fell 1.1%, worse than the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.3% decline and below the upwardly revised 0.7% increase in June.
• Excluding automobiles, sales declined 0.4%, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday.
• “Although retail sales fell in July, the outlook for consumer spending remains positive,” said Gus Faucher, chief U.S. economist at PNC. “However, spending growth will shift from goods to services over the next couple of years, limiting growth in most categories of retail sales.”

(Source: CNBC News)